NXP accelerates product development and streamlines service delivery

1

Integrated platform

44K

Global employees benefit from streamlined, centralized IT services

Reduced

IT operating costs worldwide

NXP—a leading semi‑conductor company originally known as Philips
Semiconductors—provides embedded apps in the vehicle, security, and
smart connected solutions markets. NXP wanted its IT groups to work as a
single, global operation. With ServiceNow, it addressed legacy
operational complexity by streamlining and consolidating IT processes.

Automating and streamlining complex processes

NXP helps customers develop the connected products of tomorrow With a focus on “designing the products of tomorrow,” NXP
Semiconductors N.V. (NXP) supplies semiconductors for embedded
applications in the connected vehicle, end-to-end security, and smart
connected solutions markets. Research and development (R&D) is a
primary focus for the company, with approximately 14% of annual
turnover earmarked for R&D, and engineering design teams in 23 countries.

Rapid growth and numerous mergers and acquisitions brought
complexity to NXP’s business processes, creating an environment
comprised of thousands of IT components, applications, infrastructure
services, and service providers. As responsibility for IT lay with
local support teams, staff would approach local engineers to resolve
problems or order equipment.

NXP addresses legacy operational complexity to streamline and
consolidate IT processes NXP was faced with the challenge of streamlining IT worldwide
and ensuring its activities were organized to support the business,
and in particular, the R&D IT process.

“We wanted our IT groups to work in the same way–as a single, global
operation,” explains Sebastiaan Laurijsse, Senior Director, IT
Infrastructure Services, NXP. “To deal with the dynamics of our
business, we needed to orchestrate and implement proper change control
of our environment.”

NXP opted for ServiceNow ITSM for the monitoring and control of all IT operations.

NXP seizes an opportunity to transform R&D process with ServiceNow NXP selected ServiceNow® IT Service Management as
their platform for the monitoring and control of IT operations. NXP
initially implemented ServiceNow’s monitoring, problem analysis, and
incident registration modules; then deployed its discovery, asset
management, and configuration management capabilities.

Following the implementation of ServiceNow for IT service delivery,
Sebastiaan identified an opportunity to reimagine NXP’s infrastructure
for research and development.

NXP’s design infrastructure consists of a complex application
landscape for the development of new products, supported by a vast
computing environment. Nine data processing centers with thousands of
servers are used to simulate how the hardware and software of new
products behave under different conditions.

“Because R&D is critical for NXP, the pressure on our department
is enormous,” explains Sebastiaan. “We operate in a highly competitive
market in which technological development is exceptionally fast. Our
customers want to be at the forefront. They must be able to develop
and market new products quickly, and we have to be part of that.”

ServiceNow helps NXP automate and streamline complex R&D processes For Sebastiaan, ServiceNow is indispensable for the management
and orchestration of R&D, creating a continuous process for new
product development with the support of data analytics and test and
release automation.

Sebastiaan says that development processes should be traceable and
repeatable, with minimal disruption: “Autonomous IT operations and
total quality are our ultimate goal. In this respect, the IT
infrastructure doesn’t just facilitate primary work processes, but
manages the entire process and automates it.”

He adds: “If you accurately define and register every step in the IT
design process, you can trace errors and optimize the process for the
future. ServiceNow allows us to analyze why things happened, predict
what might happen, and provide guidance to staff.”

Using the Now Platform®, NXP orchestrates every process
so that everyone knows exactly what to do, minimizing the risk of
errors. If incidents do occur, the system will work to resolve them
immediately, helping to ensure the business continues to operate unimpeded.

“The Now Platform is open and enables us to orchestrate work
processes in a flexible manner,” says Sebastiaan. “We can easily
connect to other systems that are important for work processes and
make R&D IT data available through the Now Platform.”

Seen as a strategic partner, ServiceNow efficiencies are felt
throughout the entire business “Thanks to ServiceNow, we’re no longer waiting on people or
processes,” says Sebastiaan. “Everything is orchestrated using
intelligent automation, big data, and machine learning.”

ServiceNow plays a major role in streamlining and accelerating NXP’s
R&D activities while also supporting IT service management. The
Now Platform brought a predictive quality to product development that
helps NXP meet its customers’ high expectations.

Through ServiceNow, we are no longer waiting on people or processes. Everything is orchestrated using intelligent automation, big data, and machine learning.

Sebastiaan Laurijsse

Senior Director, IT Infrastructure Services

“By automating IT service management, we substantially reduced our
IT operating costs worldwide,” says Sebastiaan. He adds that
ServiceNow’s impact on R&D has also been positive: “Any downtime
leads to delays and therefore sizeable losses. Every minute we gain
can be invested in design cycles, and we can immediately convert that
gain into market value in terms of faster product development, shorter
time to market, and enhanced productivity.”

NXP plans to extend ServiceNow machine learning and automation capabilities Looking ahead, NXP wants to take more advantage of ServiceNow
expertise in areas such as machine learning and intelligent automation.

“ServiceNow is constantly evolving its platform to make work
predictive and reduce risk,” says Sebastiaan. “One of the company’s
strengths is that it involves customers in its own product
development, allowing the platform to be optimized together. Because
of this, we see ServiceNow as a strategic IT partner.”